How to create an invoice

One of the most important parts of project management is the invoicing of stages and costs during execution. In this article, we'll show you how to create an invoice within Nutcache.

Members with the status of administrator or higher can create and manage invoices, and managers can do the same when assigned.

After logging into your account, you can start creating an invoice from 3 different areas within your software:

A) Using the + Global from the top right corner

B) From the Invoicing module in the left menu

C) From a project or client, by clicking on the Invoices tab (in which case parts of the invoice will already be pre-filled).

From any of these areas, you will see the popup below:

This is your first step in creating an invoice. Simply complete the popup with the required information by following these steps:

1) Select whether your invoice will be a regular or progressive type. You can learn more about the difference between the two here.

2) Assign an invoice number: Enter a unique number to help track and reference your invoice.

REMEMBER: this is an intelligent feature, which in practice means that the system will identify the prefix you choose and automatically number the sequence accordingly. For example, if your first invoice is "ABC - 001", your next one will be "ABC - 002" and so on. If you want to disable this feature, you can do this from the Company module by clicking on the Organization settings (the gear icon) and then selecting the 'Settings' tab.

3) Select a Client: Choose the client you are billing from your client list.

If you want to, you can stop here and move to the next step, How to complete an invoice. But if you want to add more information to your invoice, click on the Advanced settings link to expand the popup:

4) Fill in the project-specific details (if applicable): If the invoice pertains to a specific project, complete the following fields:

NOTE: If you notice any projects displayed in gray and unclickable, it means that while they match the client and date range, they are not compatible with the type of invoice you are trying to create. For example, regular invoicing projects will be shown but cannot be selected when you are creating a progressive invoice (and vice versa).

5) Include Time entries and Billable expenses (Optional): You have the option to include time entries and billable expenses related to the selected project(s) on the invoice.

6) Set Item Description display mode: Choose how you want the items to be displayed on the invoice. Options include:

7) Create the Invoice: Click the Continue button to finalize and save your invoice.

That's it! You have now pre-configured your invoice and will be redirected to the invoice editing page.

NOTE: The Continue button moves you to the next step, which is the invoice editing page. Please note that the invoice is not automatically saved as a draft at this stage. To save your invoice as a draft or to send it, you need to do so from the invoice editing page.

Once entered, the invoice will be displayed on your screen.

1) Take a moment to look at the Invoice Action Tab strip:

This tab shows the invoice status and available actions such as preview, export, send, duplicate, set as recurring, log a payment, delete, etc.

2) Fill in the Invoice Header:

Complete the essential fields in the invoice header, including:

NOTE: You can edit the title of your Invoice by clicking on the pencil icon next to the title. If you have options created, you can select between them and, if not, you can create new options and even set one to be the default.

3) Add Services and Products:

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Even if a line is deleted, the time entry related to that line is still linked to the invoice, and it is not possible to invoice this time entry at another time.

To unlink your time entries from the invoice, follow the steps below:

Go to this invoice's project > Go to the project's "Time entries" tab > Click on the More options’ icon (3 dots) next to the time entry you want to unlink > Click on the "Unlink invoice" option.

NOTE: The layout of the invoice (including grid columns) and default settings like payment terms and customer notes are determined by your invoice template.

4) Finalize Your Invoice:

Once all details are filled in, choose to either Save the invoice for later adjustments or Save and Send it directly to the client.

When you are done editing your invoice and click on Save and send, this popup will appear:

Some fields will be pre-filled, but you can edit them and, once all the information is correct, click the Send button.

NOTE: If you don't want to invoice something yet, but want to make an estimate, you can do so according to this help page.